Touch probes are electromechanical measuring elements used widely, but not uniquely, on production lines of mechanical pieces, for example for regulating production machines or for quality controls. They serve for accurately checking dimensions or for controlling the regularity of a surface or of a production batch.
Touch probes are usually fastened on the mobile arm of a measuring machine whose position is determined accurately by means of measuring systems that are for example capacitive, inductive, magnetoresistive or optical. The arm of the measuring machine is moved in space along a determined trajectory until the probe's feeler comes into contact with the piece or the surface to be measured. During contact, a deflective force is applied on the feeler, thus moving it out from its initial resting position. An electric circuit is thus either closed or opened and a signal is generally sent on the one hand to the user, for example in the form of a light signal, on the other hand to the software of the measuring machine which thus determines, on the basis of the data of the measuring system, the coordinates of the contact point within a given reference frame. The software then allows the distance between two measuring points to be computed and, in certain cases, to represent an object to be measured in two or three dimensions by means of a series of measuring points.
In another application, touch probes serve to control the regularity of a surface or of a production batch. A probe is fastened onto an immobile element and a surface or a series of pieces runs past the sensor so as to barely touch the probe. If the surface has irregularities or if the pieces are not of regular dimensions, the probe's feeler will be subjected to a force which will make it come out of its resting position, thus modifying the signal emitted by the probe's electric circuit.
The main elements of a touch probe are usually a fixed organ, a feeler and an electric circuit serving to detect the feeler's movements relatively to its resting position.
The fixed organ is fixed relatively to the fastening element, the fastening element being generally incorporated to the probe's case and allowing the probe to be fastened, for example on the mobile arm of a measuring machine.
The probe is the mechanical element designed to come into contact with the surface or the piece to be measured. The probe usually comprises a calibrated contact sphere of ruby or of hard stone fastened to the extremity of a straight or bent rod that is held by an elastic element in a resting position relatively to the fixed organ. This resting position is determined and reproducible. The probe has one or several degrees of freedom relatively to the fixed organ. During contact with the surface to be measured, a deflective force is exerted on the probe that comes out of its resting position according to one or several of its degrees of freedom relatively to the fixed organ. When the force is no longer applied on the probe, the latter returns into its resting position.
It will thus be easily understood that the accuracy and repeatability of the probe's positioning relatively to the fixed organ play an essential role in the measurement's accuracy.
Commonly, touch probes comprise an isostatic connection between the probe and the fixed organ. This connection comprises six independent contact points, so as to determine exactly the relative position of the probe relatively to the fixed organ. Generally, the six contact points are made by three pins of hard metal, oriented at 120° to one another, each pin resting between the spheres united with the probe's fixed organ. The spheres are electrically connected to form a circuit comprising six serial switches in order to signal the contact of the probe with the piece to be measured.
This arrangement however has the disadvantage that the probe's sensitivity to a transversal force is not constant but varies according to the orientation of the external force, and notably in the case of lateral forces, oriented along a plane orthogonal to the probe's axis.
The sensitivity of this type of probe to lateral forces is thus not uniform but has three lobes corresponding to the directions of the three pins. This variation of the sensitivity is detrimental to the repeatability of the touch and thus to the quality of the measuring.
Patent application EP0360853 attempts to remedy these problems by proposing a probe in which the electric circuit is replaced by constraint gauges directly sensitive to the applied force. This device has a symmetrical response. However, use of constraint gauges is more complex and more expensive to implement than mechanical touch probes.
One aim of the present invention is to propose a touch probe devoid of the inconveniences of the prior art.
Another aim of the present invention is to propose a simple and reliable touch probe that exhibits a constant sensitivity to lateral forces.
These aims are achieved by the probe being the object of the independent claim and notably by a probe including: a fixed organ; a feeler held by an elastic element in a resting position relatively to said fixed organ, said resting position being reproducible, said feeler being capable of moving from said resting position in response to a deflective force and capable of returning to said resting position when said force ceases to be applied; a plurality of mobile positioning elements united with said feeler; a plurality of fixed positioning elements united with said fixed organ and capable of engaging with said mobile positioning elements to define six contact points; characterized in that said six contact points are distributed around the axis of said feeler so as to obtain an essentially uniform sensitivity to deflective forces in an orthogonal plane to said feeler.
The present invention derives from the observation that the touch's sensitivity to lateral forces can be made uniformed by judiciously selecting the position of the contact points. In particular, it is possible to distribute the contact points in an arrangement having a hexagonal symmetry by 60° rotations. On the other hand, the distribution of the contact points in known touch probes is symmetrical by 120° rotations. In such an arrangement, the probe's sensitivity to lateral forces is practically constant.
The present invention will be better understood by reading the description given by way of example and illustrated by the attached figures.